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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: game · racket · capital · wound · mark · fan · content · leaves

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. game — wild animals
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. capital — a city
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. content — the amount
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mark — a trace
  15. capital — money
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. mark — a grade
  19. wound — an injury
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. game — a match
  24. content — videos and posts

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com